Old Folks At Home

Not all old folks are Bundy-Sterling Republican jackasses. From the Florida Sun-Senitinel, Rick Scott goes out for a photo-op and meets constituents who refuse to be bamboozled:

[Harvey] Eisen told the governor he wasn’t sure “if, as you say,” there are Obamacare-inspired cuts to Medicare. But even if there are, that would be OK. “I can’t expect that me as a senior citizen are going to get preferential treatment when other programs are also being cut.”

Ruthlyn Rubin, 66, of Boca Raton, told the governor that people who are too young for Medicare need the health coverage they get from Obamacare. If young people don’t have insurance, she said, everyone else ends up paying for their care when they get sick or injured and end up in the hospital.

Eventually, Rubin said, Obamacare will become more popular. “People were appalled at Social Security. They were appalled at Medicare when it came out. I think these major changes take some people aback. But I think we have to be careful not to just rely on the fact that we’re seniors and have an entitlement to certain things,” she said.

“We’re all just sitting here taking it for granted that because we have Medicare we don’t want to lose one part of it. That’s wrong to me. I think we have to spread it around. This is the United States of America. It’s not the United States of senior citizens,” Rubin said from her spot two seats away from the governor.

Most of old people aren't the greedy geezers of the Teabaggest Generation. There's plenty who aren't buying what the scam artists are selling. And if Scott doesn't fire his event coordinator over this, I'll give him credit for actually listening to what his constituents think.

On This Day In History

April 29, 2014:  Wingnuts do an about-face and argue that apartheid is a bad thing.

(Of course, they will deny throwing St. Ronnie and Dead-Dick Dick under the bus. IOKIYAWSA!)

Customers Who Liked "Monster Hunters International" Also Bought "I Married A Solipsist" By Glenn and Helen Reynolds

Glenn Reynolds, Three-Legged Chair of Inbred Peckerwood Studies at the University of Tennesee, cries that science fiction has been politicized, and that wingnut writers of the genre have been "punished" in some unspecified way for being wingnuts. He cites that case of one Larry Correia, "the author of numerous highly successful science fiction books like Monster Hunter Intetnational and Hard Magic," and a man I neither know or care anything about.  Unless I misread the column, Mr. Correia's punishment did not involve anything that prevents him from selling enough books to become highly successful.

Instacracker fulfills a large part of his contractual obligation to USA Today by pasting a large blockquote from Larry's blog, in which Lar blubbers that people spread "libel and slander" about him by saying... well, it doesn't matter, take Lar's word for it.  And, if that wasn't enough, Lar was also sabotaged, maligned and politicked against something awful. Instacracker also suggests that Lar will probably lose a popularity contest at some fan convention because he isn't the most popular author nominated. You'd think a man who pretends to be an international monster hunter for a living would be a bit more stoic about the chance he won't make prom king.  

But, wait, there's no more!  If people can't be nice to Lar, then science fiction is ruined forever. End of story.

If I was a cynic, I'd think 'Cracker was just using his USA Today column to get more Amazon referral fees.  

P.S.  Those parsing the text will note that I "punished" Professor Peckerwood above by suggesting he is an inbred peckerwood.  Or did I "punish" inbred peckerwoods?  Either way, 'Cracker's got yet another column about wingnut victimization, if he wants it.

Rod, God and a Wad

Rod Van Dreherwinkle has slept through the last 20-plus years of the Religious Right.  No points for guessing the subject of Rod's bother:

It’s just witless, red-meat blathering, delivered in that nasal whine of hers that makes it sound like she’s chewing wads of tinfoil.

Yes, yes it is. 

But one bit of blather has Dreher in a dither:

OK, stop. Not only is this woman, putatively a Christian, praising torture, but she is comparing it to a holy sacrament of the Christian faith. It’s disgusting — but even more disgusting, those NRA members, many of whom are no doubt Christians, cheered wildly for her.

Someone should tell Rod about a little site called National Review Online.  That site is lousy with he-men Christians who praise torture and certain of its practitioners.  And I'm not talking about the crazed commenters. 

There's A Koch-Sucker Bore Every Minute

The Obama economy has quite a few winners:

Out of the $37.5 million spent so far by the PACs of six major tea party organizations, less than $7 million has been devoted to directly helping candidates, according to the analysis, which was based on campaign finance data provided by the Sunlight Foundation.

The dearth of election spending has left many favored tea party candidates exposed before a series of pivotal GOP primaries next month in North Carolina, Nebraska, Idaho and Kentucky.
Roughly half of the money — nearly $18 million — has gone to pay for fundraising and direct mail, largely provided by Washington-area firms. Meanwhile, tea party leaders and their family members have been paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees, while their groups have doled out large sums for airfare, a retirement plan and even interior decorating.

The 'bagmen are advancing some unique defenses:

Adam Brandon, executive vice president of FreedomWorks, said that much of the group’s super PAC funds go toward training activists to make phone calls and walk door-to-door — expenditures that are not categorized as campaign-related but that pay off politically.

Most of us learned how to make phone calls and walk before kindergarten. I understand it's a little harder for the fundies and Bundys.

Here's a heartwarming rags-to-riches tale for the suckers:

[Jenny Beth] Martin, the super PAC’s chairwoman, oversees all its expenditures, according to Broughton, meaning she sets her own $15,000 monthly fee for strategic consulting — payments that have totaled $120,000 since July.

She also draws a salary as president of the Tea Party Patriots’ nonprofit arm — getting more than $272,000 in the 2012 fiscal year, according to the group’s most recent tax filing.

Her twin salaries put her on track to make more than $450,000 this year, a dramatic change in lifestyle for the tea party activist, who had filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and then cleaned homes for a period of time to bring in extra money.

Outrageous! We can only pray that the Roberts Court will put an end to such unconstitutional disclosure laws.

Fear and loathing is now the fastest growing market sector. 

'Baggers like to say that The Tea Party has no leaders.  But it has plenty of bleeders.  But those chumps can only be bled dry once, and then the astroturf wars will begin in earnest.

Ka-BLM! Blood in the Face, Right in the Face

Poor Sean Hannity, Best Bud o'Bundy.

Now Cliven B. is only good to him as the victim of a BLM sniper.

Of course, Sean is willing to make that sacrifice.

Bundy/Palin 2016

Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather.

Next up: Charles Murray and Andrew Sullivan co-sign a petition deploring the Feds' attempt to punish Cliven's right to speak.

Joseph And The Amazing Soon-to-Be Convicted Felon In An Orange Jumpsut

Another right-wing criminal betrayed by his mistress's husband:

Prosecutors also said they had obtained a copy of a recording made surreptitiously last October by the husband of a woman Mr. D’Souza was involved with romantically around the time of the donations, when Mr. D’Souza was separated from his wife. In making the recording, the husband was not acting at the government’s direction, prosecutors said. The woman, Denise Joseph, was one of the alleged straw donors.

Ms. Joseph was recorded as saying that Mr. D’Souza had told her that if he were charged he might plead guilty, but would initially plead not guilty because that “gives him a window of opportunity to get his story out there,” the government said. Ms. Joseph had no comment, her lawyer said.

D'Souza was last seen hanging around the Bundy ranch, looking for sheep other than his current supporters. I suspect the four-legged livestock will put up more of a fight.

Coalition of the Butthurt

So let's see how many of the signaturies of this open wanker letter sign a similar letter condemning the termination of an employee based on sexual orientation (and the laws which allow it). Better yet, how about signing one every time it occurs?

You know, if it's about principle and it's not just a circle-jerk of privileged blowhards worried about being called on their crap.

(Though it is nice to see Sully and Charles Murray back together again.  It's almost like they never parted.)

Grand Old Police Blotter: Another Ill Eagle Arrested In Florida Edition

Florida Republican Dane Eagle is staggering in the footsteps of his old man:

Court documents show Tallahassee Police first spotted Eagle (R-Cape Coral) pulling out of a Taco Bell on West Tennessee Street. He then made a U-turn in his black SUV, and police said he nearly hit a curb outside Papa John's before running a stoplight. After pulling him over, the officer reported a strong odor of alcohol coming from the vehicle, and his eyes were bloodshot and watery. Eagle told the officer he thought the stoplight was yellow.

Documents also show that Eagle told the police officer he did not drink alcohol that night, but he stumbled when exiting his vehicle. The odor, Eagle said, was because friends who were drinking at a bar earlier had ridden in his car.

...

Eagle's arrest marks the second Southwest Florida Republican politician to run afoul of the law in recent months. Former U.S. Rep. Trey Radel resigned in January following a stint in rehab sparked by his cocaine arrest in October.

Eagle's father, Greg Eagle, pleaded guilty in 2013 to charges of bank fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud. The elder Eagle was a significant contributor to Florida Republican causes and campaigns. Dane Eagle was not named in the investigation of his father's finances.

Time for some Floridian Teabaggers to arm themselves and spread Eagle's message of the Constitutional right to graze public curbs while shitfaced (If you're a Republican).

Praying For Waco Is Not A Metaphor

These are depraved individuals who lust for blood for their own personal and political benefit.

 

Praying For Waco

The wingnuts are beseeching the Almighty that Cliven Bundy, the most famous Republican Bundy since Ted, dies in a hail of bullets.  The coffers of the G.O.P. must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of "patriots." 

Cliven has the advantage that he's not a pedophile, although that wouldn't stop the G.O.P. from lionizing him anyway.

Not to Mention the Two Full Columns of Situation Wanted: Trollop Solicitations in the Territorial Enterprise

James Dobson is feeling neglected as he ponders the site of the 2016 Republican Convention:

“The GOP is supposedly interested in reaching out to conservatives and evangelicals. Maybe that’s just a front, but if they really mean it this is not the way to do it,” Dobson said Tuesday. “Even though Vegas has tried to shore itself up and call itself family-friendly, it’s still a metaphor for decadence. There’s still 64 pages of escort services in the yellow pages. … You can’t have it both ways.”

I'm fairly certain you can have it all kinds of ways, Dobby. Just keep dialing.

Uberkill

Continuing with OCD-like laser-like precision into my investigation of Vox advertorials, it appears that the uncredited photo of Uber bike messengers pissing on a wall which accompanies Matt Yglesias's "story" on UberRUSH was supplied by Uber itself, as shown on this CNBC story which credits the photo.

So why no credit?  Some of Yglesias' stories have photo credits; others, like the one on Uber, don't.  Here's an story where Yglesias whines at length about how Amtrak boarding procedures inconvenience him, illustrated with numerous credited photos, including credits for Yglesias himself and his dad.  But he gives no hat tip to the "logistics" company whose product he's pimping.

The lesson is: If you're going to post content that reads like poorly-written ad copy, make it clear whether you meant to write a story or an ad.

Deutschmarks Uber Inhalt

Updated below

Vox has one-upped Talking Points Memo by putting a big name, Matt Yglesias, in charge of writing advertorials.  Read as Matt gushes in turgid prose over Uber:

Uber functions right now as, in effect, a taxi dispatch company though you also hear words like "ridesharing" tossed around. But they are about to dip their toes in the water of a different business — messenger services and deliveries.

          ...

Messenger services just in part of Manhattan is clearly a pretty small line of business. But it's an important sign about where the company is heading. They are known to the world as a car dispatch service, but they like to describe themselves as specializing in "urban logistics." Last December they staged this Christmas tree delivery marketing stunt [link removed - RA], that I said was likely a precursor to a broader move into delivery. And now you're seeing a version of that come to fruition with Uber Rush.

The ability to dispatch vehicles to arbitrary locations and efficiently route them through a city has a lot of potential applications beyond just taxis. Ultimately the company would like to make a much bigger push into the broader world of delivery and logistics, and this is the toe in those waters.

You think I'm joking.  

About the advertorial bit.  (Not the turgid prose bit.)

I'm not.  

Check out that li'l gray bar at the bottom of Matt's prose. The one with the tiny print in slightly darker gray. Which you probably ignored, even if you made it all the way past the giant promo photo and down to the bottom of the "story," because the "story" is identified as a "Top Story," and not as ad, on the homepage. Same here.

You'd think Uber would insist that its promoter not write like a summer intern for an Indiana congressman assigned to crank out the constituent newsletter.  Or maybe that's part of the plan.  

Vox wants to help people understand the news  Just maybe not completely.

Update:  It appears the l'il' gray "Advertisement" bar appears beneath all of the "Top Stories," even the ones without the uncredited publicity photos, press release headline and purely promotional tone. And none of those pages have clearly recognizable ads beneath the bar either. But if Yglesias' article is not meant as an ad, then what the hell is it?  (Besides even more hilarious.)

Republican Family Values: Fuck A Duck Edition

A Godly man -- a man last seen wagging his Willie in the U.S. Capitol building -- has developed a taste for 'Cock:

"There's no doubt I've fallen short and I'm asking for forgiveness. I'm asking for forgiveness from God, my wife, my kids, my staff, and my constituents who elected me to serve," [Vance] McAllister said in a statement. "Trust is something I know has to be earned whether you're a husband, a father, or a congressman. I promise to do everything I can to earn back the trust of everyone I've disappointed."

He went on: "From day one, I've always tried to be an honest man. I ran for Congress to make a difference and not to just be another politician. I don't want to make a political statement on this, I would just simply like to say that I'm very sorry for what I've done.

"While I realize I serve the public, I would appreciate the privacy given to my children as we get through this," McAllister added. He and his wife Kelly have five children.

The 'Cock in quo is Melissa Peacock, a married staffer who's got Vance in her pants. Needless to say, Mrs. Peacock has already gotten the knife in the conservatory, while Duckfucker Vance continues to be a Teabag hero. In Louisana, a wingnut legislator can do no wrong, provided the 'Cock he fondles isn't attached to a penis. You can Depend on it.

Even A Loon With A Poodle Toupee Is Right Twice A Decade

Dick Cheney is a war criminal.

Let's see if the poodle has been neutered by his Presidential ambitions, or if he will continue to squeak the truth on at least one subject.

Benghaziiiii!!!!!!

Dana Milbank on the Benghazi clown show nineteen months on.

Only the mentally ill now care about this freakfest.